New Delhi, Oct 9: Ruling parties in three states and one Union Territory that went for by-elections are poised comfortably to win as counting comes close to an end on Friday for five Assembly and one Lok Sabha constituencies.

Elections were held on Tuesday for the lone Parliamentary constituency of Nagaon in Assam, while voting took place the same day for the Assembly seats in West Bengal’s Nandigram and Rejinagar; Madurantakam and Dharapuram of Tamil Nadu; and Thattanchavady in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The Nagaon Lok Sabha seat was vacant after Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi – who won in 2019 and 2024 – joined the BJP and subsequently won from Dispur in this year’s Assembly elections. The state’s ruling BJP was leading at the time of writing, with its candidate Devasish Sharma ahead with a convincing margin of 1.6 lakh votes over his closest rival.

In Puducherry, the ruling All India N. R. Congress (AINRC) retained the Thattanchavady seat, with Ashok Anand winning here with a margin of 8,482 votes over nearest rival E. Vinayagam of the Congress.

Chief Minister Natesan Rangaswamy vacated this seat to retain Mangalam, which he had won simultaneously in the Assembly elections held earlier this year. As a Congress candidate, he lost from Thattanchavady in 1990, but registered a victory in the election held the next year. In 2006, he won here with a record 90 per cent of the total votes polled.

Since winning in 1991 as a Congress candidate, Rangaswamy retained Thattanchavady till he chose to contest elsewhere beginning in 2011 after breaking out of the Congress and founding the AINRC. He returned, winning again in the 2021 and 2026 general elections.

In Tamil Nadu, while Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was ahead by almost 67,000 votes in Dharapuram at the end of all 23 rounds of counting, it was ahead by close to 58,000 mandates in Madurantakam after 17 of 21 rounds. In the Assembly elections held earlier this year, TVK emerged as the largest single party, forming the government with allies.

In West Bengal, BJP’s Hasi Rani Rath was declared winner by a massive margin of over 1.2 lakh votes, while in Rejinagar the ruling party pulled a surprise with its candidate Shankharavh Sarkar close to victory with a lead of over 75,800 mandates. Muslims in Rejinagar comprise well over 70 per cent, where the controversial Babri Masjid-replica builder and founder of Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), Humayun Kabir, stepped down to retain Nowda.

He had won from Rejinagar earlier, bagging 51.62 per cent of the total votes polled, but his son Golam Nabi Azad failed to retain it for the AJUP in the subsequent by-election.

Since delimitation and polling held in 2011, the seat has been decided on the basis of demographic divide.

But Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had predicted the change before the by-election, promising to work for the development of the region.

In the 2011 election, Humayun Kabir, then a Congress candidate, defeated his nearest rival Serajul Islam Mondal of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a Left-Front ally. The seat was retained by the Congress in the 2013 by-election after Kabir switched over to the Trinamool Congress, with Rabiul Alam Chowdhury beating the RSP again. In 2016, Chowdhury again triumphed, this time against Kabir, who contested as an independent.

In the subsequent 2021 polls, the BJP rose to the second position in a significant surge, but lost to Chowdhury, then a Trinamool candidate, by a massive margin of over 68,000 votes.

Shankharavh Sarkar’s comfortable position in Rejinagar at the time of writing suggests that the larger part of the Muslim community has accepted the BJP government as a possible benefactor in the coming days, as observers suggest.

Moreover, the trend of being rendered directionless and mass erosion in parties after losing power has also had its impact, say analysts.

Even the once formidable Trinamool Congress has fragmented after its defeat in the Assembly poll this year and has fared poorly in the by-elections too. In Rejinagar, the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress managed less than 4,000 votes, while the Democratic Trinamool Congress collected a little over 2,000.

In Nandigram, that was once among the principal reasons behind Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year tryst with power, her candidate withdrew from the race while the rival faction got a meagre 853 mandates.

New Delhi, Oct 9: Two days after a four-story building collapsed in north Delhi’s Seemapuri, claiming at least five lives, including two children, action was taken against illegal constructions in the area on Friday.

The demolition drive was carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), on the orders of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, against those constructions which were built in violation of government guidelines.

The action was part of a drive against unauthorised constructions in the area.

Speaking to media, DCP, Shahdara District, Rajendra Prasad Meena said: “A nearby building had already been declared dangerous. When the building collapsed, a portion of it struck the neighbouring building and fell, damaging its balcony and walls. The MCD issued a notice to the owner today and gave two hours for its complete demolition…we have provided police security to facilitate the operation.”

He added that a case has been registered in connection with Wednesday’s incident, and that a search is underway for the owner of the collapsed building.

“The owner is currently absconding,” the police officer said.

Meanwhile, those who lost their lives in the tragedy on Wednesday have been identified as a 12-year-old girl, 21-year-old Gulafsa, who was around four months pregnant, a child aged around one-and-a-half years, and two others named Nusrat alias Guria and Hajra Bibi, officials said.

Eight people injured in the collapse were rescued and shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Tahirpur for treatment.

DCP Meena further said that a rescue operation at the site had concluded by 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The building collapse in Seemapuri occurred a month after a similar incident in Delhi’s Satya Niketan area claimed seven lives, including that of five students.

The building in Satya Niketan housed a paying guest accommodation and mostly had students enrolled at Delhi University.

Following the tragedy, the MCD had then initiated demolition of “dilapidated” buildings in various parts of the national capital, as part of a drive to identify unauthorised and unsafe structures.

Hyderabad, Oct 9: Licences of shops selling prohibited synthetic manja must be cancelled, Telangana’s Head of Forest Force, Vinay Kumar, on Friday directed officials.

He asked officials to take stringent measures to curb the sale and use of synthetic manja and protect Indian rollers and other wildlife.

He was speaking at a review meeting with senior officials of various government departments held at Aranya Bhavan here on Friday to discuss these issues.

As synthetic manja is being supplied from other States, particularly Rajasthan and Gujarat, Vinay Kumar instructed officials to intensify surveillance on supplies originating from these States.

He directed Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials to issue instructions to shop owners not to sell synthetic manja and to take stringent action against those violating the rules.

According to an official release, the Head of Forest Force instructed the police to establish special surveillance to prevent the sale of Chinese manja through online platforms.

He emphasised the need to identify sales of synthetic manja on e-commerce websites and coordinate with the concerned organisations to curb such sales.

He also instructed officials to put up posters at all public places, including bus stations, railway stations, markets and other crowded locations, to create public awareness about the ban on synthetic manja.

Vinay Kumar stated that the School Education Department should create awareness among students and their parents about the dangers posed by the use of Chinese manja to human beings and birds.

He further instructed officials to advise bus drivers and conductors to inform the Forest Department helpline if they identify the illegal transportation of synthetic manja or the transportation of Indian rollers and other wildlife on buses.

During the meeting, it was brought to notice that voluntary organisations had lodged complaints regarding the use of Chinese manja at the Kite Festival organised by the Tourism Department.

The Head of Forest Force instructed officials to ensure that synthetic manja was not permitted under any circumstances at this year’s festival and that any synthetic manja identified should be confiscated immediately.

Vinay Kumar directed officials to take measures to prevent Indian rollers from being kept in cages for display at Durga pandals. He instructed Endowments Department officials to ensure that these directions were implemented at all temples. He emphasised that all departments should work in coordination to protect wildlife.

CCFs Priyanka Varghese and Kshitija, CF Prasad, and senior officials from the Police, GHMC, HMDA, School Education, Cinematography, Information and Public Relations, Electricity, Pollution Control Board and Tourism departments, along with officials from other departments, participated in the meeting.